Memorial addresses in honor of Governor Alexander Ramsey : at meetings of the Minnesota Historical Society, in the State Capitol, St. Paul, Minn., September 3 and 14, 1903

MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
VOL. X. PLATE XVII.

From a Photograph taken in

MEMOKIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR
ALEXANDER RAMSEY, AT MEETINGS OF THE
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, IN THE
STATE CAPITOL, ST. PAUL, MINN., SEPTEMBER
3 AND 14, 1903.

46

ALEXANDER RAMSEY.

A MEMORIAL EULOGY, DELIVERED BEFORE THE MINNESOTA HIS-
TORICAL SOCIETY IN THE SENATE CHAMBER OF THE CAPITOL,
THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 3, 1903.

BY GEN. JAMES H. BAKER.

It is not the purpose of this address to deliver to you a
biography, nor to indict an epitaph. Made, by your favor, for
this memorial occasion, the organ of our Society, it is my desire
to paint, as best I may, the portrait of our late distinguished
President; to set his picture in the environment of his times,
clothed in the characteristics of his marked individuality, and
with notice of the more salient features of his achievement.
Forty-four years of unbroken intimacy and friendship salute me
from his grave; and this I trust will not warp my judgment,
but rather the better equip me for presenting a true analysis of
his character. He has already received the affectionate praises
of devoted friends, and the generous voices of political opponents
have celebrated his lofty character. Eulogy has exhausted her
votive offerings, and I come late to glean in a field so abundantly
garnered.

This busy world will not concern itself with men who are
dead, unless they have largely contributed to the sum of human
knowledge, or performed such signal services to humanity as
give them a claim to be long remembered. There are limitations
to every form of human greatness, but, within the confines of our
state, I assert that Alexander Ramsey has more claims to endur-
ing remembrance than any of her other sons.

The work he did, the influences he set in motion, are inter-
woven parts of the state itself. Out of chaos he organized the

724 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

territory into official forms, and breathed into its nostrils the
breath of life. You cannot recite the formative periods of our
history without blending his life with the threads of our story.
Like the confluence of two great streams, whose waters are lost
in the commingling currents, so the state and the man were
borne on together.

Alexander Ramsey appeared at the right time, and under
the right conditions, for his usefulness and his fame. His edu-
cation, his experience, his discipline, prior to his advent on this
soil as an empire builder, were such that it would seem fate her-
self had prepared him for his destiny.

If characters are modified by physical scenery around them,
then Ramsey was fortunate in the home of his youth. He came
from the grand old state of Pennsylvania, settled by the English,
the Scotch, and the German. He was from the Chestnut Ridges
and Laurel Hills of the lovely Susquehanna. The blue tops of
the great Appalachian range filled his youthful eye. The story
of William Penn had stamped its impress on the state, and
Indian legends and Indian treaties were a part of the tradi-
tions of every Pennsylvania boy.

He had read, too, of the massacre of Wyoming, and his
youthful imagination had been fired by Campbell's poetic des-
cription of that ruthless slaughter. He had thus inherited no
love for the Indian character, and his pressing proffer to Presi-
dent Lincoln, to take all the responsibility of promptly hanging
the convicted savages of 1862, must be interpreted in the light
of the lurid flames of Wyoming.

To understand fully one who has played so great a part
in our dramatic history, we must, for the hour, live in those
times, see what he saw, look into the faces of his remarkable co-
partners, sympathize with his trials, and rejoice in his suc-
cesses.

Alexander Ramsey was born near Harrisburg, Pa., Septem-
ber 8, 1815. His paternal ancestry were Scotch, and his mother
of German origin, a racial combination difficult to excel. An
orphan at ten, by the aid of a friendly relative he obtained a fair
education, which was greatly enhanced by his strong love for
reading and study. He subsequently became a carpenter by
trade ; he taught school and studied law.

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 725

That he did not receive a complete collegiate education, I
think, is happy for us all, for then he might have contented
himself in filling- a professor's chair, and measured out his days
in expounding the metres of Homer and Virgil. The self-
taught American, like Franklin and Lincoln, most often develops
the vigorous and broad life so useful to the nation. Nor was
there ever a better illustration of the wholesome training of a
young man in the great common school of experience and self-
study, which is the nursery and stronghold of American democ-
rt?cy, than we have in the example of young Ramsey. He was
one of those practical men who quickly avail themselves of the
grand opportunities whose golden gates stand open, in this
country, night and day.

He came upon the stage of active life when party strife was
raging with unabated fury. The Whig and Democratic parties
bitterly divided the American people. The questions about a
bank, a tariff, and the distribution of the proceeds of the public
lands, seem to us, at this distant day, to be trivial. But politics
were intense, the excitement great, and all were politicians,
even the women and children. As a matter of fact, it was not
so much measures, as men, that agitated and divided the people.
Jackson and Clay were the illustrious leaders, and under
their respective banners the contestants were marshalled in irre-
concilable antagonism. Both leaders were men of consummate
tact and management. Each held his followers as with hooks of
steel. Clay was the captain of the Whigs, and his graceful
manners and splendid eloquence held in thrall the aspiring young
men of the day. Ramsey caught the contagion which the fervid
genius of Clay evoked. The Whig party was resplendent with
talent, and in that atmosphere young Ramsey was matured.

The famous Harrisburg convention of 1840 met in his city.
Harrison was nominated, and Clay was defeated. But the people
rose as if en masse. Banners floated ; the air was hot with accla-
mations ; songs were sung, and even business was neglected. As
upon an ocean wave, "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too," were floated
into office.

A month later Harrison died. Tyler, like another Arnold,
betrayed his party. Clay's heart was broken, and the Whig
party was paralyzed. But the great commoner of Kentucky bore

726 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

himself like a plumed knight. In the midst of these stormy
times, Ramsey was rocked in the cradle of politics.

In 1840, he was secretary of the electoral college; in 1841,
he was chief clerk of the House of Representatives ; in 1842, he
was elected to Congress, and served in the 28th and 2gth Con-
gresses. He was a substantial Whig member, social, cool, cau-
tious, and given to practical business. He retired, voluntarily,
from further service, after the close of the 2Qth Congress, while,
singularly enough, Henry Hasting Sibley was just entering the
3Oth Congress as a delegate from that terra incognita, the terri-
tory of Minnesota.

Ramsey's career in Congress was signalized by his ardent
support of the Wilmot Proviso, in its application to certain ter-
ritories acquired as the result of the war with Mexico. His seat
was next to Wilmot's in the House, and, as a matter of fact, he
wrote the proviso on his desk for Wilmot, which the latter
offered. No less strange is the fact that Mr. Sibley opposed the
application of the Wilmot Proviso to the territory of Minnesota
in the very next Congress, as "wholly superfluous."

In 1848, Ramsey was made chairman of the Whig State
C'entral Committee of Pennsylvania, and contributed largely to
the election of Zachary Taylor, the last of the Whig presidents.
When that gallant soldier was inaugurated, he at once tendered
the governorship of Minnesota to Alexander Ramsey, His com-
mission bears date, April 2nd, 1849.

The Whig party was now moribund, dying of slavery. Clay,
too, was dying, and Webster had condoned with the Slave
Power. The Fugitive Slave Law was the final bolt that slew the
great army which Clay and Webster had organized. Thus it
happened that the brilliant party which had won Alexander
Ramsey's youthful love and devotion was waning and expiring,
when he made his advent into the Northwest.

On the loth of September, 1845, while a member of Con-
gress, he was married to Miss Anna Earl Jenks, a beautiful and
queenly woman, of eighteen summers, possessed of the sweetest
disposition and the most estimable qualities. With a dash of
Quaker blood, her "thee's" and "thou's" were exceedingly agree-
able. She was highly domestic in her tastes. Coming from
a home of comfort and the best society, with marked affability

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR 0$ GOVERNOR RXMSEY. 727

and practical good sense, she at once adapted herself to her new
surroundings, and by her tact and grace contributed largely to
the fortunes of her distinguished husband. After a noble
and useful life, she died on November 29th, 1884, and with sad
hearts, her troops of friends laid her tenderly away, covered
with garlands of flowers, in Oakland Cemetery.

On the 27th day of May, 1849, tne new governor arrived at
the scene of his official duties. With something of poetic fitness,
he came, with his young wife, from Sibley's baronial home at
Mendota, where they had been guests, in an Indian birch-bark
canoe. On the first day of June, 1849, ne issued his official
proclamation, declaring the territory duly organized.

Minnesota thus entered her kindergarten preparation for
statehood. Then followed the detail necessary to the establish-
ment of the machinery of the new government. This was the
historic starting point of the new commonwealth. These im-
portant proceedings brought him face to face with the most
remarkable body of men who ever graced a frontier, Sibley,
Brown, the Rices, Olmsted, Morrison, Steele, McLeod, Stevens,
Renville, Borup, Kittson, Bailly.

How, at the mention of their names, the dead arise, and
life starts in the stalwart forms of these primeval kings of the
wilderness ! If New England parades, with pride, her Puritan
ancestors, with equal veneration we point to the vigorous, in-
trepid and superb men, who stood sponsors to the birth of our
commonwealth. They were no ignoble rivals in the race which
was to be run. No stronger men ever colonized a new country.
They possessed that restlessness that comes of ambition, and the
audacity that comes of enterprise.

Far behind these empire-builders of the Northwest, there yet
appeared in the twilight of our history, other majestic forms.
We behold the saintly Allouez and Marquette, glorified by their
sufferings. We see Le Seuer in the valley of the St. Peter, in his
journey in pursuit of gold, shrouded in mystery and romance, as
imaginary as that of Jason in pursuit of the Golden Fleece.

We contemplate the reign and wars of the great fur com-
panies, those mighty lords of the lakes of the North. These all
are the paladins of our history. Following them came the era
of the scientists, Nicollet, Pike, Schoolcraft. This brings the

728 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

panorama to true historic ground. We now touch the time
when some of you were co-partners in our early dramatic
scenes.

Inspired by these grand traditions, and surrounded by these
stalwart figures, the young Pennsylvanian saw that this wilder-
ness had an epic of thrilling interest. As he stood in this envi-
ronment, what were his dreams of the future? Did he behold
in the aisles of the pathless woods, and in the vernal bloom of
the unploughed prairies, the miraged image of that wonderful
state which is now so proud an ornament in the clustering
stars of the Union? But as yet, the scene before him was far
from inviting. There was but little to inspire him with hope.

He saw but a small hamlet, with bark-roofed cabins.
Savages yet walked in the straggling streets, with the scalps
of their enemies dangling from their belts. Cranberries and pelts
were the commercial currency of the settlement. Oxen were
the horses of the country, and Red River carts the chariots of
her commerce.

But what gave him greater anxiety than all else, was the
fact that, though he was the nominal executive of a domain more
extensive than France, yet but a fragment was open to settle-
ment. Casting his eyes upon the map, all in reality over which
He had authority was the narrow strip of land lying between
the St. Croix and the Mississippi, bounded on the north by a
line passing near where Princeton now stands, a "pent-up
Utica," and the land not of the best.

All the territory west of the Mississippi was unceded by
the Indians. Into this rich Sioux empire, the young governor
gazed with longing eyes. He immediately began to press, with
zeal, his Whig friends in Congress, for authority to make a
treaty with these savages. At last the authorization came in
1850. As a logical result of this warrant, there followed by far
the most important event in the history of Minnesota, and des-
tined to have the most salutary influence upon our destinies.

The treaty was finally consummated July 23rd, 1851, and
was ratified by the United States Senate June 26th, 1852. That
day Minnesota was born again. This treaty sealed the doom
of the Dakota race in Minnesota; they signed away their heri-
tage, and were henceforth strangers in the land of their fathers.

Study all the history of that negotiation as you may, you

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 729

will find that Alexander Ramsey was the essential and controlling
factor in the transaction. He was not only governor of the
territory, but, ex officio, Superintendent of Indian Affairs. It is
true that the entire body of traders used their great influence
with the Indians to accept the treaty, and that influence was pow-
erful. But the traders worked from mercenarv motives. Their
combined claims amounted to $209,200. Most of these accounts
were of long standing, and were, perhaps justly, provided for
in the terms of the treaty. But the one man, in that entire body
of whites, who worked from no sordid motives, was Alexander
Ramsey.

The treaty itself was the most imposing spectacle yet pre-
sented in the Northwest. All the dignitaries of the territory, an
army of traders, speculators, editors, and all the great Dakota
chiefs, in barbaric pomp, with thousands of their painted follow-
ers, were present. Why it has not received the historic, literary,
and artistic notice it so well deserves, it is difficult to understand.
In the events of that day, it excluded and overshadowed all other
concerns. It gave 23,000,000 acres of land to the state, and this
the most picturesque and fertile on earth. The Almighty could
have made a better country, but he never did.

The ink was not yet dry on the pages of that treaty, when
a stream of immigration poured in, through "the inward swinging
gates," and barbarism gave way to civilization. Ramsey beheld
the realization of his dream; a magnificent destiny to the state
was assured.

One of the noblest features of this treaty was, that it was
contracted by peaceful persuasion. Nearly all the treaties of our
government with the aborigines have been the result of bloody
wars, and made at the point of the bayonet. This pacific treaty
stands in all honor and credit with that of William Penn. Not
a soldier was present, nor were they at any time required.

All that is wanting is an artist like Benjamin \\ est, who
gave Penn's treaty to the world, and the scene will be immortal.
Yonder stands your new capitol, with

"Granite and marble and granite,

Corridor, column, and dome,
A capitol huge as a planet,

And massive as marble-built Rome."

730 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

This edifice will ever be regarded with enthusiasm, for its grace,
its elegance and dignity. Therefore let us hang its inviolate
walls with glorious state histories, first and foremost of which
should be the scene representing the great treaty of 1851.

It may be proper here to note that some disappointed trad-
ers, whose claims were not allowed, brought charges against
Ramsey, affecting the integrity of his conduct in the negotia-
tions. It is sufficient to state that these charges were fully in-
vestigated by a hostile senate, and he was triumphantly vindi-
cated. Lethe, long since, sent her waves of forgetfulness over
the whole story.

Correlative to this negotiation, by authority of Congress, in
1863, when he was United States senator, he made a most im-
portant treaty with the Red Lake and Pembina Ojibways. This
treaty covered thirty miles on each side of the Red river, and now
includes the fertile counties of Kittson, Marshall, Polk, and Nor-
man, in Minnesota. Previous to this, by his influence chiefly, the
Winnebagoes were permanently removed from the heart of the
fairest portion of the state. By his early and persistent efforts,
the colonist, the conqueror, the civilizer, the Anglo-Saxon, pos-
sesses the state, and the pagan is gone. What sentimentality re-
grets the change?

In the period between the close of his office as territorial
governor and his election as the second executive of the state, he
loyally performed every duty of a good citizen, serving one term
as mayor of the city of St. Paul.

The slavery question, with a potency which subordinated all
other political ideas, was now "sovereign of the ascendant."
Hitherto, in territorial politics, the Democrats held undisputed
sway. On the 25th of July, 1855, the opponents of the Nebras-
ka bill held a meeting at St. Anthony, and assumed the name
"Republican." They issued a call for a convention, and Alex-
ander Ramsey was the first name signed to that proclamation.

From that day onward, his allegiance to Republican prin-
ciples was unfaltering. More and more these principles informed
and infused his convictions. He believed that his party creed was
the best for the country and humanity. All the ills of the repub-
lic could be medicated in that political pharmacy. He made no
unnatural political alliances, but stood his ground upon the well

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 731

defined principles of his party. He constantly gave his patron-
age to the support of his party, except during the period of the
civil war, when he bestowed his favors equally on both parties,
and with a discriminating hand.

In 1857, a state constitution was to be made. A governor,
state officers, two members of Congress, and two U. S. senators,
were the prizes. The contest was sharp, and both sides claimed
a majority. The result was a double convention, but, .by a flash
of common sense, each faction produced the same constitution,
alike even in orthography and punctuation. Promptly it was
approved, and the arch of the state was locked in the cohesion
of granitic permanence. Henry H. Sibley was the Democratic
candidate for governor, and Alexander Ramsey led the Republi-
can column. He was counted out under circumstances of great
doubt.

In 1859, Alexander Ramsey was again the logical Republi-
can nominee, and was elected governor by a decisive majority.
Under his leadership, the Republicans attained power, to be
dislodged but once in forty-five years.

No other governor ever so impressed his individuality upon
the state. Well did Henry A. Swift declare that his administra-
tion "was a distinct era in the history of the state." The study of
his messages reveals his practical purposes, and consummate skill
as a public administrator. Extravagance was curbed, salaries re-
duced, county government simplified, the school and University
lands were safely housed from the despoiler, under the guarantees
of the constitution. The growing and enormous school fund
will ever remain as a proud monument to his memory.

His pronounced action in reference to our school lands,
as contained in his celebrated message of January 9, 1861, is
undoubtedly the most complete and forceful presentation of the
value to the state, and to posterity, of the magnificent grant of
public lands we received from the nation, more especially in the
mode and method he devised for safeguarding the gift, which
has ever been presented to a legislative body. He had fully re-
solved that this magnificent endowment should not be squander-
ed. With matchless courage he constrained the adoption of his
measures. He left nothing, in this regard, for his successors to
do, but to follow in his footsteps. By this good work, so sue-

732 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

cessfully accomplished, he may be justly regarded as the author
and builder of that wonderful school fund, which is today the
admiration of every state in the Union.

Kindred to this, and illustrating his practical and econom-
ical state house-keeping, and characteristic of his German thrift,
was his complete reformation of the extravagant and expensive
government of the preceding state administration. Our first
legislature was prodigal far beyond the state's resources. State,
county, and township governments, had plunged headlong into
excessive expenditures, creating debts and embarrassing the peo-
ple. He met the situation promptly and vigorously. He insisted
that every state expenditure should be reduced, that taxation
might not eat up the substance of the people, nor prove a bar to
immigration. His economical reforms were sweeping, even to
reducing his gubernatorial salary one-half. The legislative body
was largely reduced; county and township expenditures were
curtailed; the public printing was no longer "a job;" salaries and
taxes were alike reduced ; and a banking law, which authorized a
currency on inadequate securities, was swept away. Out of these
radical reforms soon sprung that prosperity which has since
marked jthe unparalleled advancement of the state.

In the progress of our history there had occurred one of those
sore tribulations by which so many young states and territories
have been afflicted, leaving wounds and scars during years of
regret. Our misfortune was the celebrated "Five Million Loan
Bill." Had the governor of the state stood firm, and permitted
no encroachment upon the executive prerogative, there would
have been a door of escape. Governor Ramsey, who inherited
from his predecessor this ill-fortune, devised measures to extri-
cate the state from its entanglements. An amended constitution
expunged the unfortunate measure from the statutes, and the
franchises and enormous land grants were restored to the state,
and by his devices the state renewed the same to other corpora-
tions, so safeguarded as to secure us those great lines of rail-
road which have so rapidly developed the state. Governor Ram-
sey is entitled to the highest credit for the masterly skill with
which he extricated the endangered state from its greatest peril.

January i, 1860, Alexander Ramsey became governor of
Minnesota. Extraordinary events were pulsating the civilized

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 733

world. Russia was emancipating her serfs; Garibaldi was liber-
ating Italy ; Germany was moving to unity. But above all, in the
United States of America, the revolt against the slave power
had arisen to fever heat. The Fugitive Slave Law, the Dred
Scott decision, Buchanan's career of weakness and imbecility, the
overthrow of the Missouri Compromise, were inciting causes for a
revolution which was fated to end in blood. John Brown's soul,
at Harper's Ferry, had begun its ominous march. A mighty duel
between slavery and freedom was organizing in every home of the
republic.

In November, 1860, that man of God, Abraham Lincoln, was
elected president. The storm which had gathered, now burst in
fury, and on a fatal Friday afternoon, April 12, 1861, treason
fired its first shots at Fort Sumter, the portents of the bloody
carnage to follow. For the first time the flag of the Union went
down, but to rise again, for "the eternal years of God are hers !"

Ramsey was well prepared by experience and conviction, for
the new and extraordinary responsibilities thrust upon him by
the dread note of war. Not one moment did he hesitate, but of-
fered the first troops to the President, and thus set the pace for
loyal governors. The young state became a military camp, and
the roll of the drum and the thrill of the bugle fired the hearts
of the sons of Minnesota. He issued his call, and his call was
not in vain :

"And there was mounting in hot haste; the steed,
The mustering squadron and the clattering car,

Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war."

The unexpected exigencies required statesmanlike abilities.
With an empty treasury, he yet equipped regiments, supplied
batteries, and placed squadrons of cavalry in the field. He estab-
lished hospitals, appointed surgeons, and sent comforts to the
sick. He personally visited his troops in the bivouac and in the
hospital, and no men in the field were better fed, better clothed,
or cared for. At each subsequent call, like the clan of Roderick
Dhu, at the sound of his bugle, warriors came from every bush
ar.c brake. The history of Minnesota in the mighty struggle be-
came heroic. It was necessary to choose an army of officers, and

734 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

well did he select. His privates became captains; his chaplains,
archbishops; his captains, colonels; and his colonels, generals.

But in the midst of this terrible war, when our flag was
almost fainting in the breeze, there came the foray of a savage
enemy in the rear, with deeds too dark for description, threaten-
ing the desolation of the state. The dwellings of settlers were
blazing at midnight, their paths ambushed by day. It was an
orgy of blood, in which neither age nor sex were spared.

Never was a governor so tried and tested. Never was a
young state in such deadly peril. But his energies and resources
expanded with the dangers. His Scotch blood was fired with the
courage of a Bruce. He summoned every man to the front. The
plow was stopped in the furrow; the church door was closed, or
the church itself converted into a hospital. The inhabitants were
fleeing toward the great cities. The conditions of the state were
trying to the fortitude of the bravest hearts. But it is the highest
of all human praise to say, that their constancy and courage
were equal to the trial.

I doubt if the records of ancient or modern times give a
better example of heroic deeds and actions, than were exhibited
in that dark day, when the rebels were in our front, and the
savages in our rear. Our soldier sons were falling on the bloody
slopes of southern battle fields, and our citizens, on the frontier,
were tomahawked amid the ghastly flames of New Ulm. This
was the famous and heroic era of our history, when we showed
the world "the might that slumbers in a peasant's arm."

Let our children of all time revive their drooping faith in
periods of despondency, by contemplating this supreme exhibi-
tion of patriotic devotion to the public weal. By promptness and
unwearied exertions, the governor restored public confidence, de-
fended the frontier, and kept two armies in the field, till triumph
closed, in honor, around our faithful and chivalrous sons. These
war achievements opened the door for his admission to the Loyal
Legion, the noblest association following any military contest in
history.

It is idle to compare any other state administration with that
of Alexander Ramsey. All others, however competent the ex-
ecutives, are commonplace and devoid of stirring events. Amid
all these scenes of financial distress, of prostrated credit, of dire

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 735

rebellion and savage onslaught, Ramsey was ever the central fig-
ure. His coolness, his judgment, his practical good sense, car-
ried us safely and triumphantly through the most trying condi-
tions in all the history of our state.

The roster of our seventeen governors, territorial and state,
comprises a roll of admirable men, of vigor and marked ability.
But Alexander Ramsey is easily the Nestor of them all. His
figure stands out in bold relief, and his primacy is universally
conceded.

On the fourteenth day of January, 1863, he was elected to the
United States Senate. For twelve years he was a distinguished
and working member of that illustrious body. He served on its
most important committees, and no senator has left a record of
greater practical usefulness during the stirring period of the!
war and the reconstructive era following.

It was his fortune to participate in those great questions of
reconstruction, of resumption, of constitutional amendments,
which in their sweep involved all the issues of the great civil
conflict. Party matters were trivial; but these demanded wis-
dom and statesmanship absolute. In all of these, he obtained the
high-water mark of excellence. His state was proud of him,
and felt a confidence in his wisdom and pilotage, felt in no other.

As illustrative of his practical state-craft, while he was
chairman of the committee on post-offices and post roads, some
of our most valuable postal reforms were successfully achieved,
cheap international postage was secured, and the celebrated
"Ramsey bill" corrected the old franking abuse. Great improve-
ments in the navigation of the Mississippi river, essential aid to
the Northern Pacific railroad, and the most satisfactory assist-
ance in behalf of the territories of Dakota and Montana, — these,
and all matters pertaining to the interests of the great Northwest,
were the objects of his constant and sedulous care.

It is proper for me here to remark, that, in the matter of
negro suffrage, he believed in a ballot based on intelligence. But
in view of the extraordinary course of Andrew Johnson, in par-
doning and restoring to civil rights those who had served in the
rebel army, while all the South were determined to refuse the
negro any rights whatever, under any conditions, he felt that it
was necessary to arm these wards of the nation with the ballot,

736 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

that they might not be utterly helpless, but in some measure be-
come their own guardians.

Senator Ramsey's senatorial career closed March 4, 1875,
having completed twelve years of faithful service.

In 1879 he was appointed by President Hayes to a seat in
the cabinet, as secretary of war. As constitutional advisor to the
President, lie filled the office with wisdom and discretion. He
thus widened his personal fame, and reflected additional lustre
upon the state he had been so instrumental in creating.

He was called from retirement in 1882, when the "Edmunds
bill" was enacted, the object of which was to extinguish polyg-
amy in Utah. To execute that important statute required men of
consummate skill and experience. A commission was formed by
the Garfield administration, of which Ramsey was made chair-
man. He resigned in 1886, and permanently retired to private
life. This was his last public work.

We have now touched the more salient points of his re-
markable history. He had rounded out a splendid career, more
abundant in honors than was ever yet accorded to any son of
Minnesota. With grace, dignity, and philosophic satisfaction, he
retired to private life. He was out of the dust of the political ar-
ena, but in the full enjoyment of the profound respect of all his
fellow citizens. Not Jefferson at Monticello, nor Jackson at the
Hermitage, was the object of greater veneration and love from
their own fellow citizens. He had retired full of honors, as full
of years.

Now that the tomb has claimed him, what do men think of
him? Was Alexander Ramsey a great man? Well was it re-
marked that, since the advent of Washington, all estimates of hu-
man greatness have essentially changed. Men are now measured
by the actual benefits they achieve for their fellow citizens, and
for humanity. Measured by this standard, he was a great man,
and his name should be canonized within the limits of our
state.

He was one, and the chief one, of an assemblage of dis-
tinguished men, wHo were eminently conspicuous in our early
annals. His rivals and co-workers were of the Titanic type.

There was Henry Hastings Sibley, his most illustrious com-
peer; a man of culture amid barbaric surroundings; brave and
chivalric; the "plumed knight" of pre-territorial times.

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN' HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 737

There was Henry M. Rice, able, graceful, whether in the
wigwam or the senate, always polished, suave and diplomatic.

There was Joseph Renshaw Brown, the brainiest of them
all, a sort of an intellectual lion, who sported with the savage
Sioux, or ruled a political caucus, with equal power.

There was Ignatius Donnelly, that Celtic genius, whose daz-
zling intellect shone like a meteor; but, unhappily, like the ele-
pfiants of Pyrrhus, he was sometimes as dangerous to his friends
as his foes.

There was Edmund Rice, elegant and courtly, the Chester-
field of his day. There was John S. Pillsbury, honest, solid and
true; the champion of the University, and the friend of the set-
tler.

There was Morton S. Wilkinson, stately, gifted and ele-
gant; the friend of Lincoln. It is to be regretted that his
speeches were always better than his practices.

There was Cushman K. Davis, that great jurist, whose
bugle-notes of eloquence in Ciceronian periods still live in the
echoes of the American Senate, as his memory yet lives, death-
less, in our hearts.

And there is the familiar face of Charles Eugene Flandrau,
the cavalier of the border, lawyer, jurist, soldier, the Prince
Rupert of the Northwest.

There is George Loomis Becker, lawyer, railroad president,
state senator, railroad commissioner, twice Democratic candidate
for governor, a true type of an elegant and accomplished gen-
tleman of the old school.

There is James J. Hill, a strong, unique, virile, monumental
character, for whom a sharp claim will be justly pressed with
all the power of steam, for a high niche in the Pantheon of
Minnesota's great men.

There is the patriotic face of the Right Reverend John
Ireland, priest, army chaplain, assistant bishop, bishop, arch-
bishop, and soon, we pray (be it prophetically said), to wear
the red hat of a cardinal, the most eminent Catholic prelate
America has yet produced, and a splendid type of a loyal
American, after the stamp of Patrick Henry.

And we must mention also the name of Joseph A. Wheel-
ock, whose polished Athenian pen has been the brightest jewel

47

738 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

in the crown of our literature, and will remain for him a peer-
less monument, which proclaims the pen mightier than the
sword.

Men such as these, and other rare spirits, of literary, civil,
and social mark, were Ramsey's august compeers and emulators.
Yet, in some aggregate way, he measured more than any one
of them ; and moreover, down deep in the red core of their hearts,
the people loved him better than any other public man. That
position he held by the grace of God, and without the leave of
the politicians.

Beside him but one scarcely inferior figure is to be seen, and
that is th,e stately form of Henry Hastings Sibley. He was a
splendid cavalier, "from spur to plume." He, too, is one of the
august fathers of the state. The panorama of his life, from bar-
barism to civilization, is an unwritten Iliad. He, like Ramsey,
was the type of a man to found an American commonwealth.
These two men are the twin pillars on which the pristine arches of
the state rest, — par nobile fratrum!

There is nothing finer in the history of our state, than when
Ramsey, as governor, summoned his old antagonist from retire-
ment, and gave him a commission to command all the troops in
the field against the hostile Sioux, and with unlimited authority.
The trust and confidence these ancient enemies, in an hour of
common danger, reposed in each other, bespeak for them the
enduring regard of all who admire nobility df character.

What then constitutes the qualities which made Ramsey
great? His greatest gift was his strong, practical common sense.
Guizot, in his History of Civilization, says, that saving common
sense is the best genius for mankind, and has ever been its savior
in all times of danger. While not a genius, he possessed talents
of the highest order. His mental fabric was symmetrical, and he
was ever in command of all his faculties, judgment, memory, per-
ception, discretion. He could apply his whole intellectual endow-
ment to a solution of the questions before him. He was never
among the stars, searching for ideal conditions, but always on
earth, taking clear, practical views of affairs. The proverb from
Ovid, "Media tutissimus ibis," was applicable to his way and
method.

He was a man with a purpose. He was one who did things.
He was a projector, as well as an executor. He possessed a

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 739

strong individuality of character, and that character impressed
its-elf indelibly upon the councils of the state. He was gifted with
a quality of temper that could never be ruffled. Always frank
and good Rumored, he might be described by Goldsmith's well
known line,

"An abridgment of all that is pleasant in man."

And yet, he had firmness and decision of character, and was not
easily turned from his purpose.

Though bitter invective, often descending to absolute scur-
rility, marked the stormy annals of territorial times, yet he never,
for one moment, descended to its use. Though frequently galled
by the poisoned lance of partisan abuse, he never retorted in
kind. His speeches and public utterances were elevated, clean,
and devoid of grossness or defamation.

Ramsey was not an orator. He in no wise met the require-
ments of Cicero, that master of elocution. So often on the ros-
trum with him, I always admired his plain, direct methods, utterly
rejecting all ornamentation, and by the simplest and most direct
route reaching the purposes of his address. Like Franklin, he
seldom exceeded a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes in any
public address. While not a fluent, he was an easy speaker. He
spoke as well in German as in English, and this fact greatly en-
hanced his popularity. His evident sincerity always carried con-
viction, and he won the judgment of his audience. He had as few
idiosyncracies as any man I ever met in public life, — no crotchets,
no fads, and this left his faculties unclouded and unbiased.

He was a typical American, and loved his country with a
devotion as fervid as Patrick Henry. He could say, as Webster
once said, "I was born an American, I live an American, I shall
die an American." The East, from whence he came, was nar-
row ; but the West broadened and liberalized his ideas.

The effect of the West upon the political thought and action
of the republic, is simply enormous. It is not so much what the
East has done for the West, but what has not the West done for
the East? We take the sons of the Efast, and recast them, in
stature and breadth, free from the trammels of tradition, till they
widen like our own ocean prairies. The grand effect of the
West upon the national character, life and government, is a

740 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

story yet to be written. The West reconstructed Alexander
Ramsey.

Like all truly great men, he was a firm! believer in the truths
of Christianity. He was a Presbyterian of the most liberal school,
and believed more in a practical Christian life than in creeds or
dogmas. He often quoted the couplet of the poet :

"For modes of faith, let graceless zealots fight,
He can't be wrong, whose life is in the right."

There was something remarkable in the general estimate
placed upon his character. Public esteem is a lofty criterion to
decide a man's reputation. He who holds an elevated character,
before such a tribunal, is indeed fortunate. Innumerable were the
tongues in the state which proclaimed his virtues and his safe
qualities. In the convention, in the town meeting, in the city full,
or on the remote frontier, in the church or on the car, everywhere,
the people said, without distinction of party, Ramsey was alwys
safe and to be trusted. Such was the power of reputation and
good character. To be thus confided in was better than a great
inheritance or bank stock. No other public man among us ever so
held the universal confidence. With an intimate knowledge of
our sharp political contests, I fear not to state that, when beaten
for a high office by legislative coalitions and strange alliances, if
left to the suffrages of his entire party, he would have been tri-
umphantly elected.

We love sometimes to look at distinguished men en dishabille,
not always in their robes of state. Let us view him personally.
His social and colloquial qualities were of the best. In private
life, he was a genial and generous neighbor, a loving husband and
a fond father. He was neither avaricious nor prodigal of money.
He bowed in knightly homage to women, as all true gentlemen
have ever done.

That elegant contrivance of social life, a good dinner, had its
charms for his leisure hours and Epicurean tastes. Th,e gorgeous
table, the embossed plate, the exotic bottles, the brilliant flowers,
the distinguished guests, the Attic salt, in his leisure hours, to
him were fascinating. The salads of Lucullus, and the wines of
Maecenas, were none too rich for his Pennsylvania blood. I be-
lieve he had the best stomach in America, and a good stomach is
the foundation of a strong man.

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN* HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 741

He was a man of marked personal appearance. He had
broad shoulders, a deep chest, and great muscular power, denot-
ing immense vitality. He had a noble head, round, well balanced,
and symmetrical. His face was broad and expressive. When the
"dew of youth" rested upon him, he was accounted especially
handsome ; and age but added grace and dignity to his noble ap-
pearance.

Finally, his connection with and devotion to this Society
must not be omitted on this memorial occasion. He was our pa-
tron saint from our natal hour to the end of his days. He signed
the legislative act incorporating this body October 20, 1849, f°ur
weeks before it was organized. His address on assuming the
chair as first president, January 13, 1851, is a remarkable paper,
as it defined the splendid field of our research, and pointed out,
as never since, the great objects of this Society. To read it even
now creates an enthusiasm in our work, and an inspiration not to
be received from any other source. He showed how Minnesota
had a history, rich in tales of daring enterprise, glowing with
myths and traditions, which were to be exhumed and gathered
into permanent form. We were to preserve the fleeting memor-
ials of our territory; in fact, were to become the embalmers royal
to all that is worth preserving in our history. Hence this Society
has a passion for old things, old traditions, old mounds, old
stories, old pictures, old heroes ; we love to grope in the twilight
of the past, to unearth our eldest myths, as well as to verify events
that otherwise would fade ; — an employment so suitably symboliz-
ed by the motto on the seal of our Society. "Lux e tenebris."

Like "Old Mortality" in Scott's immortal story, with mallet
and chisel, bending over their tombs in pious reverence, we re-
move the moss which time has gathered, ere yet oblivion dedicates
them to forgetfulness. We protect and preserve the name and
the fame of all the good sons of the state, as each in his turn
requires these good offices, such as we now and here render to him
whose memory we tonight celebrate. That Minnesota has an
Historical Society, methodically to gather and record chronicles of
men and events, of which any state might be justly proud, is
largely due to his wise foresight and his constant and effective
support.

Thus have I endeavored to present the portrait of our com-
panion, Councilor, and President. We have turned the dial back-

742 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

wards, and recalled some of the scenes in the gray dawn of the
past. We have summoned figures of noted cotemporaries, and
have touched a few of the more important events of his history.
True, we stumble over the images of .many other distinguished
men, and the fragments of many weighty events ; but the canvass
will not carry all things in a single picture. The artist has aimed
at the general effect, without arithmetical weariness of detail.

Alexander Ramsey is dead, and has passed forever to the
"starry court of eternity." The grave closes the scene, and we
scatter, profusely it may be, the lilies of remembrance upon his
sepulcher. But the praise of the dead harms no rival, though it
be generously given. I doubt if the state shall look upon his like
again, Tbecause there are no surroundings to produce such, a char-
acter. He surely earned a name and a fame. Minnesota cannot
afford to let it die. A generous people will yet decorate his tomb
with a monument that would please the eye of Pericles.

Ever advancing shadows leave uncovered the forms of but
few who have been active in the arena of the state. Many we
fondly thought imperishable are already quite forgotten. But
'Alexander Ramsey has filled so broad and so useful a page in
the annals of Minnesota that he has bequeathed his name as a
household word in the homes of the state, for centuries to come.

The intelligence of his death fell with an equal shock upon
all classes of society. It invaded alike the homes of the rich and
the cottages of the poor, — "pauperum tabernas, regumque tur-
res."

Alexander Ramsey is dead, so far as such men can die, and he
is henceforth an historical character . I venture thus early to an-
ticipate the verdict of posterity, and call him a great man; one
test of which surely lies in this, that no other has yet risen among
us, who, all in all, can successfully contest with him the palm of
primacy.

To few men is it given to witness what, in the limitations of
a single life time, it was his to behold. The wilderness of 1849 has
been converted into a modern empire, better equipped than
Greece or Rome, for the people who are its happy citizens. Glad-
stone, in his long life, never beheld such a transformation scene.
Moses was denied the promised land, except its distant vision
from a mountain top; but Ramsey not only saw the wonderful

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN' HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 743

vision, but he was permitted to enter into its full enjoyment. He
saw the great Mississippi valley swiftly filled with the stars of
empire. He saw the mighty gates of the Rocky Mountains open
to close no more. He saw twelve hundred thousand happy and
prosperous people on the very land his genius had given by Indian
treaties to the expanded state. He witnessed what had been done,
and foresaw the unwritten triumphs of the future.

He must be measured in the completeness of his character,
physical, moral, and intellectual, in all its harmony, by what it was
capable of accomplishing, and by what it did actually accomplish.
The propulsive force of his work still operates, and, like Tenny-
son's brook, will flow on forever. In all that pertained to the
well-being of the state, his actions have stood the test of time;
and no other man, on questions of public policy, ever committed
so few errors of judgment. His name should be recorded among
the heralds of empire, as the grandest among the founders and
statesmen of Minnesota.

He died in the maturity of his years. The very ends of his
being seem to have been fulfilled. It was no sudden death in the
midst of life's great activities and usefulness, like the lamented
Windom; but was like the close of some pleasing summer's day,
whose long lingering and benignant light charms as it departs,
and melts away into the rosy west, leaving upon its forehead the
evening star of memory.

Nothing could be more appropriate for his monumental in-
scription than that placed upon the tomb of Sir Christopher
Wren, the architect of the Cathedral of St. Paul, who lies buried
in the very building his genius constructed, and on whose tablet
is this immortal legend:

"Si monumentum quaeris, circumspice."

But Alexander Ramsey lies inurned in a cathedral whose
mighty arches and swelling dome reach to the very confines of
this empire state, which his genius may be said to have almost
created.

MlXXKSOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

VOL. X. PLATE XVIII.

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES, PRESENTED AT THE
MONTHLY COUNCIL MEETING, SEP-
TEMBER 14, 1903.

HON. GREENLEAF CLARK presented the following address :

The admirable and adequate eulogy by Councilor James H.
Baker before this society at a recent meeting, largely attended
by the general public, so fully covers the life, character, and
services of Alexander Ramsey, and places so just an estimate
upon them, that but little remains to be said ; and that little more
in the nature of personal impression of some special characteristic
than by way of important addition to the picture so happily
drawn.

One of the qualities of Governor Ramsey which greatly
impressed me was his mental equipoise, the perfect command he
had over himself at all times, a mastery over his faculties which
events of the most critical import could not overthrow, and which
made him the man for the crisis. No vital energy was lost by
despair or nervous fear. His faculties were always ready. It was
his habit to meet his friends and neighbors with a hearty greeting
and smiling face. He was fond of humor, and often indulged
in it, even in serious conversations. No sudden weight of re-
sponsibility changed his manners in these respects. He acted' as
though a troubled mien and depressed manners had no part in the
serious affairs of life, and appeared to live in the consciousness
that there was to be a tomorrow, and that if we were true to our-
selves, our duty, and our country, and did the best we could, the
good providence of God, in due time, would evolve the better
day.

"He looked not on weal as one who knows not woe comes too:
He looked not on evil days as though they would never mend/'

And is it not true that the true man in the darkest hours will live
in hope and expectation of the morn?

746 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

As illustration of his ability for prompt and decisive action,
and of his executive force, I may refer to the incident of the ar-
rest of Chief Red Iron at Traverse des Sioux, on the occasion of
the first payment, in November, 1852, under the treaty of Traverse
des Sioux. The Indians were dissatisfied because of the large
amounts which were to be paid out of their treaty money to their
creditors, the traders, according to the agreement made at the
time of the treaty, but to which they now claimed that their sig-
natures had been obtained by fraud. Instigated, in part, by
traders whose claims were not recognized in the agreement, they
were in an ugly mood, and matters assumed a threatening aspect
Governor Ramsey sent to Fort Snelling for troops, and received
a beggarly force of forty-five men, all told, to confront thousands
of turbulent Indians. The leader of the trouble was Chief Red
Iron, who organized his tribe into a "soldiers' lodge." To show
the spirit that animated them, Red Iron's band would ride fiercely
up to the thin line of soldiers, and on reaching them would wheel
and ride back again, and repeat the manoeuvre. Governor Ram-
sey promptly ordered the arrest of Red Iron by a file of soldiers,
and kept him in custody until the payment was allowed to pro-
ceed. This was courageous and forceful action in a crisis so
threatening, but it was successful.

The breaking out of the Sioux massacre in 1862, when Ram-
sey, then governor, was already loaded down with the cares in-
cident to the raising and equipping of troops for the war of the
Rebellion, suddenly devolved a most critical and arduous addition-
al burden t\!>on him. The State was denuded of regular troops,
and the onlv military force available was of raw volunteers. Gov-
ernor Ramsey promptly went to ex-Governor Sibley and per-
suaded him to take command of the force he hoped to get to-,
gether and equip for an immediate campaign against the savages.
This was quick decision and decisive action out of the ordinary
course. There were able military men to be found. Governor
Sibley had never commanded soldiers, and had never been a
soldier. But he knew more of Indian character and their modes
of warfare than any other white man then living, acquired by long
and close association with, them. Two things were of vital im-
portance, to put a stop to the slaughter, and to rescue two or three
hundred wretched female captives. Sibley knew, better than any
other man, what course to pursue to keep them alive, and finally

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 747

to get possession of them. The results, which it is unnecessary to
detail, as they are matters of history, justified the wisdom of this
new and unprecedented action on the part of Governor Ramsey.

At the time of the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion,
Governor Ramsey, being in Washington when the first call for
troops was made by the President, immediately and personally
tendered to Mr. Lincoln a regiment of volunteers, the first one
offered to the Government in the civil war. He at once came
home, and soon had the regiment recruited, mustered in, equip-
ped, officered, and ready for duty.

No further illustrations are necessary to show his masterful
power for quick, decisive, judicious action. There is but one fur-
ther honor that the State can bestow upon Governor Ramsey, and
that is, to perpetuate his name and fame as the foremost man in
its upbuilding, by placing his statue in Statuary Hall in the Cap-
itol at Washington ; and I offer the following resolutions, and
suggest that they be laid on the table until the memorial address-
es are concluded, and then be taken up and acted upon.

RESOLUTIONS.

PRESENTED BY HON. GREENLEAF CLARK IN THE MEETING OF
THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SO-
CIETY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1903, WHICH WERE UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED.

Be it Resolved by the Historical Society that under the Act
of Congress of 1864, authorizing the States, upon the invitation
of the President, to provide and furnish statues in marble or
bronze, not exceeding two in number, for each State, of deceased
persons who have been citizens thereof, and illustrious for their
historic renown, or for distinguished civic or military services,
such as each State may deem to be worthy of national commiemora-
tion, to be placed in the old hall of the House of Represent-
atives in the capitol of the United States, set apart for the pur-
pose, this Society do memorialize the Legislature of Minnesota
at its next session, to provide and furnish, for one niche in such
statuary hall, the statue of Alexander Ramsey, now dead, full
of years and of honors, illustrious for his public services, as
Territorial and State Governor, in extinguishing the Indian
right to the occupancy of the soil over the fairest part of Min-
nesota, and so preparing it for the advancing tide of civilization,

748 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

in laying broad and deep and strong the foundations of the
civil government of Minnesota, and for his ever memorable
steadfastness, devotion and labors as "War Governor," in throw-
ing the whole power of the State to the aid of the Federal Gov-
ernment in the suppression of the unhappy rebellion of 1861, and
for the defense of the State against savage foes at the Sioux
Indian massacre of 1862, distinguished for statesmanship in the
halls of Congress, in the House of Representatives in his early
manhood, and in maturer years in the Senate, and in the national
councils as Secretary of War, and who in the intelligent judg-
ment of his countrymen, and especially of the people of Minne-
sota, is deemed worthy of national commemoration.

Resolved, further, that it is made the duty of the President
and Secretary of this Society to prepare and present to the next
Legislature in behalf of this Society, such memorial, and to ask
that the proper steps be taken to put in execution the objects
thereof, and for an appropriation adequate for the purpose.

EX-GOVERNOR Lucius F. HUBBARD spoke as follows:

It was surely a very great privilege to be associated with
Governor Ramsey, as some of you gentlemen were, in his work
of laying the foundations of our State. While I can hardly
claim to have sustained such a relation to him in any degree, it
was my good fortune to live in Minnesota at the time when his
service in upbuilding the commonwealth was most forcibly and
most effectively felt. We all now recognize our obligation to
his able and conservative guidance during the formative period
of our existence as a political community, in overcoming the
unusual difficulties and in solving the serious problems that con-
fronted us in our early career.

It was a great privilege vouchsafed to him to be spared to
witness the imperial proportions attained by the young common-
wealth whose destiny had been so largely shaped by his hands.

The characteristic of Governor Ramsey that specially im-
pressed me, and generally those, I think, that came to know him
well,' was his unique and charming personality. However one
might differ with him upon any question of public interest, per-
sonal contact with him was sure to harmonize, in some degree,

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN' HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 749

one's own view with his. He had a most persuasive way in that
respect, and if one finally was compelled to differ with him: upon
a question of interest or policy, it was with a feeling- of real
sorrow that it must be so. In his nature there was little of that
element of antagonism that we encounter in the average man of
our times. If he did not always succeed in conciliating such op-
position as one must encounter in a long public career like his, it
caused keen regret upon the part of those who felt that they must
decline to accept his view of men or measures.

Perhaps the pleasantest reminiscence I have of my relation
to Governor Ramsey, is connected with the visit he made to our
Minnesota regiments in the summer of 1862, along our lines at
the front, near Corinth, Mississippi. It was during the first few
months of our service in the South, before we had become ac-
climated and hardened by experience into the veterans we re-
garded ourselves a year or two later. We had had our first
fight and had concluded our first campaign, and at the time
were encamped in one of the worst of the many malarious local-
ities that distinguish that section of the country. The health of
the troops had become seriously affected by the adverse con-
ditions that generally prevailed. Our Minnesota men, in com-
mon with their comrades from other states, were being in such
large numbers reported sick, or unfit for duty, that a feeling of
despondency and gloom was beginning to pervade the. com-
mand. The sick were earnestly pleading1 to be taken away from
the environment of death that was daily claiming many of their
comrades, and those yet in reasonable health were cast down by
what seemed to be the inevitable prospect before them. Govern-
or Ramsey's visit occurred at about this crisis, and he at once
interested himself in an effort to reassure and revive the droop-
ing spirits of our men. Here was an instance where the remark-
able personality of Governor Ramsey, to which I have referred,
was illustrated in a notable manner. His efforts had a marked
effect. There seemed to' be a change for the better in the con-
ditions of which I have spoken after this visit of Governor Ramr
sey.

Personally, I well remember the feeling of relief and reas-
surance I experienced, respecting the responsibilities resting
upon me as commander of the Fifth Regiment, after Governor
Ramsey's visit to our camp. It was simply a case of "bracing

750 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

up" on our part, but the incentive and stimulus to such an effort
were the cheerful sympathy and assurance with which the Gov-
ernor convinced us that things were not as bad as they seemed
to be.

Surely the name and fame of Governor Ramsey are so
woven into the fabric of our history that they must endure and
be honored as long as the Commonwealth shall survive.

EX-GOVERNOR ANDREW R. McGiLL presented the following-
tribute, which, in his absence, was read by the Secretary.

It would not be possible in the few minutes allotted me
to do more than glance at, much less amplify, the traits which
differentiated Governor Ramsey from other men and served as
indices to a character marked with strong but withal pleasing
individuality.

Following the excellent sketch of his life by General Baker,
recently read before this Society, any further utterances on the
subject must be in the nature of redundancy, or but confirmatory
echoes of what has already been comprehensively considered
and thoroughly well said.

Governor Ramsey was first of all a good American citizen,
loyal alike to his City, State, and Country. His respect for law
and the orderly conduct of affairs was a marked trait of his
character. He was at all times a model citizen. His patriotism
had no bounds. He believed in his Country and its institutions
with all his soul, and even in the gloomiest days of the rebellion
his faith remained constant and unshaken. He foresaw the
country's triumph and splendid destiny, when strong men quail-
ed and trembled in fear lest it should be overcome by those who
sought its life; and with cheerful face he looked to the future,
buoyed up by the firm conviction that this government would
not perish from the earth, that it would emerge, as it did, with a
new birth and a new lite, strengthened even by its sacrifices anfr
capable of withstanding whatever foes it might encounter in the
future, domestic or foreign. Those who knew Governor Ram-
sey during this period cannot fail to recall the sublimity of his
faith, and confidence. In this faith there was no pessimism.

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 751

He was a sagacious, big-brained man, and in saving com-
mon sense was not excelled by any of his contemporaries. His
views on public questions were broad and comprehensive, and
his judgment wonderfully accurate.

It was but natural for Governor Ramsey to be kindly, so-
ciable, and hospitable. He had no doubt more warm personal
friends and admirers than any other man in the State. The
quotation,

"None knew thee but to love thee,
Nor named thee but to praise,"

is often used in extolling the dead, and is seldom applicable ; yet
in the case of the subject of this sketch it applies literally. And
while his friends were a great multitude, he never failed, how-
ever busy, to greet each one, as he met them from time to time,
and with such undisguised and kindly courtesy as to still further,
endear him to them. Thus as the years rolled by, the ties which
united him to his friends continually strengthened.

And who were his friends? Were they the high officers
of 'the State and Church? Were they the scholars and artists,
the men of great learning and accomplishment? Were they the
wealthy and the powerful? Yes, all of these, and equally also
the humble and poor. He was no respecter of persons. No
property qualification was necessary to gain his friendship.
He was absolutely without affectation. There was no fawning
on his part, neither was there repulsion. To him all of his
acquaintances, whatever their condition in life, stood on the
same level. His greetings to the humble were as hale and
hearty as to the wealthy. His purposes were noble and sin-
cere, and his life one of unaffected simplicity.

It is unnecessary for me to refer to Governor Ramsey's
official career. That phase of his life has been so interwoven
into the history of the State as to embellish nearly all of its
pages. The history of his life and of the State's are contem-
poraneous and inseparable. They cannot be considered apart.
To relate one is to relate the other. No man was ever more
clearly identified with his State than he.

He desired the prosperity and happiness of his fellow men
and to the last was deeply interested in whatever tended to the

752 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

development and betterment of the State. He had been pres-
ent at its birth, had been prominent in moulding its policies
and laws, had seen it grow in wealth and population, in edu-
cation and refinement, until it had become confessedly one of
the prominent States of the Union. He had been an important
factor in making possible this splendid fruition, and with the
satisfaction of a parent he dwelt continually in admiration of
the splendid achievement.

In the State Historical Society his interest never abated.
Comprehending its great value, he gave to it his services up
to the close of his eventful life. I recall his attendance upon
the Finance Committees of the legislature from time to time,
and his earnest pleas for the support necessary to carry on its
important work. At the session of 1901, weighted then with
four score and six years, he climbed to the third story of the
Capitol building to meet the Committees in this behalf, and it
is pleasant now to remember that his demand or request was
unanimously conceded.

Governor Ramsey was admirably adapted to public life.
By reason of his temperament, his knowledge of men, his
frank and manly nature, and his large comprehension of things
essential, he was enabled to accomplish more than most men of
even conceded ability and influence. And, possessing these
great advantages, he was untiring in serving as best he could
his State and his Country.

Death has reaped a glorious harvest in Minnesota the last
few years. We, who survive, stand appalled as the names are
called of those who have passed over into that "undiscovered
country from whose bourn no traveler returns." Ramsey's
name, alas ! has been added to the list. He has joined the im-
mortals. The State has lost its first citizen; and we, each of
us, have lost a noble friend. Yet we know that

"It is not all of life to live,
Nor all of death to die;"

and that, while he has been called from among us and from
the activities of life, his works will live after him and his
name will continue to be influential in Minnesota — his State
and ours — so long as time shall last. In consideration of these

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN* HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. -753

things, and in the memory which we treasure of his noble life,
let us fincl our consolation.

GOVERNOR VAN SANT spoke as follows :

The long and valuable services of Hon. Alexander Ram-
sey, to both the Territory and State of Minnesota, easily mark
him as our most worthy and distinguished fellow-citizen. His
treaties with the Indians, his labors in season and out of sea-
son to advance our interests in the pioneer days, will long be
remembered by a grateful people.

His fidelity to the cause of education, and his deep solici-
tude for the safety of the school fund, were most commend-
able. When by legislative enactment land sharks and specula-
tors would have laid violent hands upon it, Alexander Ram-
sey vetoed the measure. And this magnificent fund, now
amounting to $15,000,000, — and later, if like wisdom and in-
tegrity prevail, it will amount to fully $50,000,000, — will stand
as a lasting monument to Ramsey's faithful and efficient ser-
vices and devotion to duty.

He it was who tendered to Abraham Lincoln at the out-
break of the Civil War the first regiment, and it was not only
Minnesota's first, but, on account of its memorable charge at
Gettysburg, it became the first regiment of the nation, — suf-
fering a greater loss in that sanguinary engagement than any
other similar organization on either side in any one engage-
ment during the entire war.

At that time there was not a dollar in the treasury of the
state. Ramsey made a long and tedious journey to Pennsyl-
vania and borrowed the money, on his own promise to pay,
to equip that same body of men and send them to the front.
The fact that he could at such a time on his personal note
secure so large a sum of money is a most convincing tribute
to the esteem in which he was held by the people of his native
state.

During that great struggle no war governor did more
with the men and means at his command to aid President
Lincoln in his mighty task than he.' His patriotism was ever

43

754 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

of the highest type. As United States Senator and Secretary
of War, the same fidelity to duty characterized his every act.
Not only in public but in private life he was a most exemplary
citizen, a devoted husband, a kind father; in a word, loved and
esteemed by all who knew him.

At Washington, in the rotunda of the Capitol, each state
is privileged to place statues of two of her most distinguished
sons. So universal is the sentiment that Alexander Ramsey
is of all men entitled to this honor, that I purpose asking the
next legislature to appropriate the money and take the neces-
sary steps to place his statue in the nation's first niche of fame
allotted to' Minnesota. There may be some question as to
who shall occupy the other place, — let future generations de-
cide that; but there can be no difference of opinion, it seems to
me, as to the wisdom of thus honoring the memory of Alex-
ander Ramsey.

ARCHBISHOP IRELAND spoke as follows:

The presence of Governor Ramsey in our streets, before
his death, was forceful and meaningful. He expressed in him-
self the whole half century of toil and achievement — the prac-
tical labors and the romance and poetry of our half century
of growth. He was fortunate in living fourscore years and ten,
that the quiet peacefulness of his declining years might crown
the more rugged activity of his early life, — that he might see the
harvest he had helped to sow, and reap the satisfaction from a
life full of labor and usefulness.

Alexander Ramsey and the State of Minnesota are in-
separable. You cannot mention the one without recalling the
other. I can remember no other state in which the history of
the commonwealth is so closely bound up in the life of one
man. Arriving in 1849 as tne first governor of the new ter-
ritory, he found Minnesota new and unimportant. A few
white men were scattered along her rivers. No axmen were in
her forests, an'd no plow had furrowed her broad plains. Only
the trails of the savages marked where man had passed.

On his arrival he hunted in vain for a roof to spend the
night, but was taken in by General Sibley at Mendota, until

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 755

St. Paul awoke to her dignity as the capital and provided
quarters for him.

The story from that time until this present year is more
epic than ever Homer or Virgil wrote, for wonders have in-
deed been done, and Alexander Ramsey could say, "Among
great things, I have been great." He may well be called the
builder, savior, and father of his State.

Private virtue is ever the embellishment of public capac-
ities, and in the private virtues Ramsey stood pre-eminent.
Honest, kindly, affectionate in his home and among his friends,
Alexander Ramsey was, indeed, a man whose memory will
fade only when Minnesota has become but a memory.

HON. F. C. STEVENS said:

I esteem myself fortunate, as one of the younger genera-
ion, in having enjoyed sufficient acquaintance with Governor
Ramsey so that it was possible to appreciate the noble qual-
ities w'hich so endeared him to the people of the Northwest.
During the last few years of his life he discussed with me
matters of public importance with such shrewdness, vigor,
and breadth of view, as to cause one to marvel :

"How far the Gulf stream of our youth may flow
Into the Arctic regions of our lives,
Where little else than life survives."

I have had the opportunity to contrast his strength and
soundness o>f intellect with some of the distinguished contem-
poraries, who with him met and solved the momentous prob-
lems which confronted men of public affairs more than a gen-
eration ago. Few of them did retain as he the memory of per-
sons and events, and a just appreciation of the accomplish-
ments and errors, of those fateful years. But more than all
it seems to me wonderful that he grasped so strongly and ac-
curately the trend of recent events which also form an epoch
in the world's history. There is one occurence which im-
pressed me with those faculties. I met Governor Ramsey in
St. Paul, and he had recounted some of his work in Wash-
ington and told some stories of interest relating to close friends
of his then in active public life and in most important stations.

756 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

One of them was a member of the President's Cabinet. Gov-
ernor Ramsey sent a personal letter by a friend to this former
colleague in the Senate and Cabinet, relative to some1 business
then pending, and I was charged to introduce the gentleman
and deliver the letter ; and to our astonishment this prominent
official did not remember either the Governor or the im-
portant matters of former years, until after we had vigorously
refreshed his memory. And when we discussed current events
applying to our mission, his feeble old intellect could not seem
to comprehend them. Yet at that time our old friend seized
these with the greatest eagerness; and his opinions and con-
clusions were so broad and just and shrewd as to always com-
pel admiration.

In my public work I was greatly interested in two par-
ticular questions on which I found Governor Ramsey also in-
formed and interested, namely, the improvement of our postal
service, and our national merchant marine. I ascertained that
when in the Senate he had devoted special attention to these
topics, and, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Post
Offices and Post Roads in 1870, had drafted, introduced, re-
ported and conducted in the Senate most important measures
on these subjects. He informed me that the foundation of our
postal system of today is the postal code which he had piloted
through the Senate in the short session of 1871. Though there
has been much subsequent legislation and many amendments,
there has since never been' any thoroughly competent revision.
I recall that, in that conversation, he stated the present postal
system to be in some respects inadequate and cumbersome;
and that the machine for the expenditure of less than $20,000-
ooo for 30,000,000 people could not be expected to do the work
satisfactorily for the expenditure of $120,000,000 for 75,000,-
ooo people. Recent events have sustained the same con-
clusion of this wise old statesman.

I recall, too, that during the time when the ship subsidy
bills were under discussion by the country and in Congress,
Governor Ramsey informed me that he had been through
similar contests when he drafted and reported four bills for the
benefit of the waning merchant marine of the country and to
establish steamship lines on the Pacific, Gulf, and Atlantic, and

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN' HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 757

with Asiatic, South American, Mexican, and European ports.
He discussed the subject as it appeared in his active days and
the changes that had since occurred, as well as the necessities
of the present, with such force and clearness that I found that
the so-called modern statesmen may better sit at the feet of the
grand old man for instruction even in their chosen lines.

Most of us think we are doing well when we deal with
a few subjects of importance. But he seemed to have mastered
many. In those days he had the burden of public affairs
which men in our times hardly realize. The vast and various
questions of war and reconstruction, of finance and resump-
tion of specie payments, of commerce and shipping, of the
proper reduction of our army, of Indian and land matters then
of vast importance, and of encouragement for the building of
railroads and improving our water ways without robbing and
impoverishing our people, and multitudes of smaller and yet
most important questions, were connected with the close of
the great and destructive^ war and with the development of a
new country, populated by the most vigorous and restless and
progressive pioneers the world has ever seen. These latter
topics alone would create a vast amount of difficult business at
all times.

It is given to few men in public life to stand in the front
rank and perform notable public acts so that the world will
acclaim them as great. In our country, Washington and Jef-
ferson, Webster and Clay, Lincoln and Seward, had the op-
portunity. Even these men could have accomplished nothing
unless they had been loyally supported by that second rank of
patriotic, wise and strong men who stood between these lead-
ers and the people and carried on the vast and varied business
of a rapidly growing country. These men may not have
achieved so much fame with the populace, but after all their
services were of the utmost value and necessity. Ramsey was
one of them and will always be remembered as of those who
supported the great chieftains wisely and strongly in the dark
days of the nation's extremity.

A new country is largely what its pioneers make it. They
fix the character and the trend of its development. Their lives,
plans, and guidance, mostly determine its possibilities and use-

758 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

fulness. We younger men have been so fortunate as to have
our ways directed to this fair land after the stress and strug-
gles of pioneering had passed, and when all of the accompani-
ments of the highest and most delightful civilization were
present ; and we can never honor too highly the men who
brought these wonderful things to pass.

We shall always find an inspiration for well doing in pub-
lic and private capacity in the life and works of Alexander
Ramsey.

MR. HENRY S. FAIRCHILD said:

We have1 met here to do honor to the memory of a very
distinguished man, who to many of us was a warm personal
friend.

At our last meeting we listened to an able, a very eloquent,
and well deserved tribute to Governor Ramsey, by General
James H. Baker; and he and those who* have preceded me to-
night have covered fully his remarkable public life and his per-
sonal characteristics. It is only left to< me to allude to a few
traits of the character of Governor Ramsey that .strongly im-
pressed me in the last few years when business relations threw
us into close association.

In these years I have heard him relate much of the public
men of the nation with whom he had come in contact, and much
of his fellow pioneers of this State, of whom some had been
lifelong political friends, some political opponents, and a few
personal enemies (for all men of positive character must have
enemies), and a broad spirit of charity characterized all his
utterances. I cannot recall a single instance in which he in-
dulged in detraction or disparagement of his opponents, even
when some of them had participated in defrauding him of the
governorship to which all now know he was fairly elected in
the first contest.

His kindheartedness was illustrated by h|is retaining ser-
vants and tenants for twenty or thirty years, not always for
their worthiness, but because he had come to know them well,
and his sympathies would not permit their discharge.

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN' HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 759

Men exalted to high stations often lose touch with the mass
of humanity. Not so .with Alexander Ramsey. It was his for-
tune to have known well most of the distinguished men of our
country oT the last two generations, yet he never lost touch with
the humblest of his fellow citizens, especially of the old settlers.
He met them always with a pleasant smile and cordial shake of
the hand, and was by them universally loved.

When- he lay in state at the Capitol, I stood and watched
with interest the thronging thousands pass his bier, once more
to look on the face of the "Grand Old Man," whom they rev-
ered and loved.

When Abou Ben Adhem saw the angel writing in the
"Book of Gold" in the soft moonlight of his room, he made
bold to ask the Celestial Presence, "What writest thou?" The
angel answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
Abou asked, "And is mine one?" The angel, with a sweet, sad
face, answered, "Nay, not so." Then Ben Adhem humbly said,
"Write me as one that loves his fellow men." The next night
the angel came with a great wakening light,

"And showed the names whom love of God had bless'd,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest."

More and more, as the earth circles the sun men will be
judged by men (and is man more merciful than God?) in ac-
cordance with the quality of their hearts and their love of their
fellow men, rather than by the quality of their judgment, their
creeds, or beliefs.

In the last few years Governor Ramsey thought much and
talked often, when none others were by, of the great, and,
through all time, perplexing mysteries of life and destiny.

"Where rest the secrets? where the keys
Of the old death-bolted mysteries?
Alas ! the dead retain their trust,
Dust has no answer from the dust."

I remember well 'his speaking of having often listened to
a distinguished senator from Ohio, who had made a study of
all religions and philosophies, which in a degree unsettled his
faith, and he said he often regretted having heard him; — that

760 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

he wished that he could have remained in the simple comfort-
ing faith of his sainted mother.

Pardon me, Mr. President, if, impelled by the knowledge of
th,e growing current of the thought of the day, I say it is not
accordant with reason or intuition that instinct should lead
aright the squirrel and the bee to lay up stores for the winter of
whose needs they have had no experience, — that instinct should
teach, the wild waterfowl to wing their way to the far North,
to nest and rear their brood in safety on the reedy margins of
the lakes in the unpeopled wilderness, — that instinct should
lead aright all the lower ranks of creation; and that the uni-
versal instinct of man, the highest order in creation, — the in-
stinct of man, civilized or savage, in all nations and in all climes,
— should lead him amiss as to life after death, the immortality
of the soul.

And so, independent of authority and despite the oracles of
modern science, we may rest assured that our friend still lives.
The bars that caged: his soul have been drawn away, and the
perplexing mysteries so in-solvable to our feeble finite faculties,
with a naturally narrow limitation increased by the mists and
clouds of passion and prejudice, have doubtless all been made
clear to the unfettered spirit of our friend. But where and how
the after and higher life is led, we know not. Our sweetest
singer says:

"I know not where His islands lift

Their f ronded palms in air ;
I only know I cannot drift

Beyond His love and care."

MR. A. L. LARPENTEUR said :

Alexander Ramsey is dead. Goodbye, old friend; you have
preceded us but a few days. Children, accept our sincere con-
dolence, which we offer you on this day of your sad bereave-
ment, and the sentiments of a bleeding heart, and bow with
humble supplication to the will of Him who created him. His
work was done and God called him home to rest.

We shall miss him from our festive board where it has
been my privilege to sit with him for fifty odd years. Eighty-
eight years of usefulness ! What a lesson for others to emulate !

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 761

He has paid the debt due to our humanity, and his Creator has
said to him, "Come home, good and faithful servant and reap
your reward."

Minnesota owes you much. You took her while in her
swaddling clothes; by your wisdom and sagacity you nursed
her into maturity. And then again you were called upon to care
for her in the Nation's greatest need. By your wise and pru-
dent judgment of men and measures, you failed not to call into
your counsels our best men for your lieutenants, as demonstrated
in the selection of that Christian gentleman, the poor man's
friend, General Henry H. Sibley, capable and honorable. Hence
your administrations have been ever successful. Minnesota has
honored you, 'tis true, but no more than you have honored her.

The name of Alexander Ramsey should be inscribed upon
the indestructible Rock of Time, there to remain as a contribu-
tion from the State of Minnesota to History, in veneration of
one of the most illustrious pioneers and founders of this great
State, "Minnesota, the Gem of the Constellation."

M'RS. VINNIE REAM HOXIE said:

It would be superfluous for me to speak of the estimation
in which Alexander Ramsey was held in this State, where he
was loved so well, but of my personal experience I may briefly
speak.

When, as scarcely more than a child, I competed for the
honor of making the statue of Abraham Lincoln, he and other
senators befriended the little western girl. President Lincoln
had given me sittings at the White House for a bust, which was
one of my earliest works, and I had been engaged on it five
months when he was assassinated. He had become my warm
friend, and was much pleased with the likeness I had made.
Immediately after his death, Congress appropriated ten thous-
and dollars for a statue of the martyred President, which was
to be in marble and placed in the rotunda of the Capitol. It
required a great deal of courage in these men to be the friend
of an unknown artist, who was daring to compete with ex-
perienced and famous sculptors, and I determined not to dis-
appoint them.

762 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

Again, when I competed for the statue of Farragut, they
stood by me with renewed zeal.

You can imagine, therefore, my mingled feelings of sorrow
and gladness in having this public opportunity of expressing my
gratitude, which has filled my heart to overflowing for many
years.

All hail to Ramsey, great, good, tender-hearted leader! The
memory of his life will help other men to live. All the youth
of Minnesota have inherited from him the example of a great
life and character.

GENERAL JAMES H. BAKER spoke as follows :

Referring to the recent Memorial Eulogy which I had the
honor to deliver on the life and character of Alexander Ramsey,
a question has arisen as to the correctness of th)e statement
therein contained, that one of the noblest features of the treaty
of 1851 was the fact of its absolutely pacific character, "not a
soldier being present, nor were they at any time required."

Several eminent gentlemen are of the opinion that I was
in error as to this statement, that there were no soldiers pres-
ent at the time of the treaty. Among them are men such as
Joseph A. Wheelock and General William G. Le Due, each so
well qualified to determine a historic question of that sort. I
have also received several letters of like import. I respectfully
insist, however, that I am absolutely correct. For this reason,
among others, I placed the Ramsey treaty on the high moral
plane of William Penn's celebrated treaty.

Now as to my authority for its absolutely pacific character :
the only regular correspondent on the ground at Traverse des
Sioux during the time of the treaty was James M. Goodhue, of
the Pioneer, to whose elaborate letters we are chiefly indebted
for a history of the treaty. They are on file in our vaults, and
I have read them with care.

Under date of June 29, 1851, Goodhue says: "Arriving at
Mendota, we took on board cattle, supplies, and wood. Then
crossing over to Fort Snelling, Governor Ramsey came on
board. It was expected that a company of dragoons from1 the
fort would have gone up on the boat to be in attendance at the

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN' HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 763

treaty, but the notice for their departure had been so brief that
they were not in readiness, and so the boat departed without
them."

Nowhere in his series of daily letters does he subsequently
refer to the arrival of any soldiers, but, on the contrary, in a
very brilliant description of the scene, written July 15, 1851, he
says : "Behold yonder on the sleeping hillside, the glorious flag
of our country, every wave of which sends a pulsation of pride
through American hearts, under its protection ; a few tents and
marquees, of a handful of men, constitute the Commission, un-
guarded by a single sentinel or musket, amid hundreds o>f sav-
ages. . . . ."

In a subsequent letter he gives the names of all the white
men present at the treaty, as follows : "I will here give a list, as
nearly as I can, of all the white men who* compose our camp.
Commissioners Lea and Ramsey, Secretary Foster, Hugh Tyler,
Colonel Henderson, A. S. White, Wallace B. White, Alexis
Bailly, F. Brown, R. Chute and lady, Messrs. Lord, Mayer, M.
McLeod, Riggs, Williamson, H. Jackson, Hartshorn, J. R.
Brown, H. L. Dousman, K. M'cKenzie, H. H. Sibley, J. La
Framboise, W. H. Forbes, A. Faribault, and myself, and prob-
ably several others whose names do not occur to me."

Turn now to the U. S. Executive Documents, War Depart-
ment, 1851, on file in our Library, and you will find, in the report
of the colonel commanding at Fort Snelling that year, that he
recites the causes why he was unable to respond to Governor
Ramsey's request to send troops to the Sioux treaty at Traverse
des Sioux, 1851. But now turn to these Executive Documents,
1852, of the War Department, and you will find the report of
one Captain James Monroe, who was sent by the colonel com-
manding at Fort Snelling, at the request of Governor Ramsey,
because of trouble with the Indians at the time of the payment,
which report bears date November 19, 1852.

My good friends, Wheelock and Le Due, have simply con-
founded events which occurred at the time of the payment with
those of the treaty. The payment of money required by the
terms of the treaty made in 1851, was not made till more than
a year later, on November 19, 1852, when a part of the Indians,
principally chiefs and head men, were re-assembled at Traverse
des Sioux to receive their money. And it was on account of

764 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

serious difficulties with the Indians, by reason of the traders
claiming most of the money, that Governor Ramsey was com-
pelled to dispatch a courier to Fort Snelling for soldiers, which
was responded to promptly by the coming of Captain Monroe
with some forty dragoons.

That was the time, as the record shows, of the difficulties
with the chief, Red Iron, and also with Captain Dodds. This
was the time (November, 1852) when Red Iron became furious
and organized the "soldiers' lodge" to resist the results of the
treaty, and Governor Ramsey showed his courage and intrepid-
ity by boldly confronting Red Iron,, and actually casting him
into prison, before the coming of the soldiers.

My friends have simply confounded the events of 1852
with the events of 1851, which, after a lapse of more than half a
century, is not surprising.

Finally and conclusively, when Mr. Thomas Hughes, of
Mankato, was preparing his excellent and exhaustive paper, "The
Treaty of Traverse des Sioux," read before this society on Sep-
tember 9, 1901, with that care wh;ich always marks his historic
researches, he visited Governor Ramsey in this city, and they
went over the whole matter of the treaty in detail. Among the
specific questions that Mr. Hughes asked Governor Ramsey,
was, whether there were any soldiers present at the treaty, and
he promptly replied, "No, there was not a single soldier present
during the entire time of the treaty; but the next year, at the
time of the payment, 1852, I had serious trouble with Red Iron
and his followers, and I sent a hasty messenger to Fort Snelling,
and Captain Monroe came promptly to my assistance. There
was not a soldier present during the time of the treaty. We had
perfect peace and good order, though there were thousands of
Indians."

Mr. Hughes' history of the treaty will always stand as au-
thority on that matter, as it richly deserves, by reason of the
thorough care bestowed in its preparation. It assigns him a
high position as a careful and valuable historian. It will be pub-
lished in Volume X of this Society's Historical Collections.

I have been thus particular in setting at rest the rumor that
there were soldiers present at this great treaty of 1851, because
I have taken pride in bringing to the public eye the potent in-

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN* HONOR OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY. 765

fluence of that treaty upon the fortunes of Minnesota. And,
moreover, the purely pacific character of the treaty was one of
its crowning glories. I do not wish to see that laurel plucked
away. To have soldiers there, would indicate some menace, or
threat, or pressure upon the Indians. As the treaty now stands,
historically, in all its essential features, it far outranks the cele-
brated treaty o<f William Penn, in 1683, and was the most peace-
ful, just, and orderly treaty, in all its appointments, magnitude,
conduct, and results, ever negotiated with the aborigines of this
country. And through it all Alexander Ramsey was the dom-
inant and controlling spirit.

THE SECRETARY, MR. WARREN UPHAM, spoke last in this
series of Memorial Addresses, as follows :

After a little more than seven years of association with
Governor Ramsey in the work of this Society, I wish here to
speak briefly, as my personal tribute of honor and love for him,
of two admirable qualities of mind and character which he pos-
sessed in a most remarkable and unusual degree.

Having heard him converse times without number concern-
ing the old settlers and the great leaders of our Territory and
State, some of whom were politically his co-workers and others
his opponents, I have never heard him express a word or
thought of unkindness or depreciation of any person among all
this very wide range of acquaintance through his fifty-four years
of life in Minnesota. In general courtesy, sincere forgiveness
of early wrongs and defamation, and a hearty kindness to all,
from former political antagonists to the servants at his home, or
to the worthy poor of this city, Governor Ramsey displayed in-
variably a very rare and grand magnanimity, a true greatness
of spirit and nobility, which distinguished him as much as his
long public services and honors. This quality gave him a serene
and happy old age.

Another and equally observable characteristic was his en-
tire freedom from self complaisance or even consciousness of his
own achievements or greatness. Egotism had no place in his
conversation or conduct. During all the sixty years of his pub-
lic life, in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, he kept a series of
diaries or memorandum books, noting events, names, and dates,

766 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

with occasional comments, which might be desired, for future
reference. These very concise contemporary records are of ines-
timable value for a biography of Governor Ramsey, and indeed
for the broader history of Minnesota, to which he was often urg-
ed by the Council of this Society, that an assistant should work
with him and have his life written and published under his
supervision and approval. But this very earnest and repeated
request was unavailing, because he had no desire for publication
of any records concerning himself. Let us hope that this work
will yet be done worthily, with filial care, to be a volume of this
Society's Collections.

Among the grand statesmen who have nurtured and led our
Territory and State through its first half century, Alexander
Ramsey is preeminent, clearly recognized as the foremost, to
whom the people of Minnesota owe the highest gratitude and
honor. He had noble associates, as Sibley, RHce, Windom,
Davis, Pillsbury, and others. We are so near to all these men,
as in a range or group of mountains, that we cannot yet see.
fully their relative altitudes, but it is distinctly seen that Ramsey
is the highest and first.

By many of our citizens he is best remembered as the vig-
orous "War Governor," who was the first to offer a regiment to
President Lincoln in the dark days at the beginning of the Civil
War, and who organized efficient defense of our frontier and
suppression of the Sioux outbreak in 1862.

By others, of the younger generation, he will be known
chiefly as a historic personage, by whom the treaties of 1851 at
Traverse des Sioux and Mendota, and that of 1863 with the
Ojibways of the Red river region, were enacted, giving to
white immigrants nearly the whole of the fertile prairie coun-
try in this state. He will also be forever gratefully remembered
by all teachers and pupils in our schools, as the founder of the
state's magnificent public school fund.

In view of all his splendid services, and of the general pop-
ular regard and affection for the old governor, which General
Baker so well emphasized in his recent address, it may very
fittingly be said of Alexander Ramsey in his relations to the peo-
ple of Minnesota, as was said of Washington in his relation to
the beginning of our republic, that he was "First in war, first in
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

OAN PERIOD

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